The broadcast without warning of the documentary The Perfect Victim by ICI TÉLÉ last December violated Radio-Canada’s Journalistic Standards and Practices, ombudsman Pierre Champoux ruled on Monday. The public broadcaster should have warned viewers of the presence of “errors of fact” and specified that it was an “opinion documentary”, according to him.
The Quebec Association of Defense Lawyers is behind the complaint filed on January 6. Along with other groups in the community, the association had already asked Radio-Canada to remove the documentary from its programming a few days before its broadcast on December 7, accusing it of conveying falsehoods and a “misleading vision of justice”. Their request, however, was rejected by the public broadcaster.
Produced by journalists Monic Néron and Émilie Perreault, The perfect victim lifts the veil on the obstacles that victims of sexual assault encounter when they decide to file a complaint. In addition to giving victims a voice, journalists interview criminal lawyers, Crown attorneys and judges to better explain how the justice system works in this area.
Already when it was released in theaters last summer, several voices from the legal community were raised to denounce inaccuracies in the film and express fears about the negative effects it could have on victims.
Further details will follow.
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